Runaway Ralph
by Kickin Taylor
Summary: The door bell stops ringing but a light knock comes from the door. Frowning, Walter opens the door. He freezes at the sight in front of him. A ten year old boy, knocking at the garage door with nothing but a backpack and a black eye. "Ralph?" Walter never drove off a cliff so Paige moves to Portland with Ralph.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I dont own Scorpion.

Please Review

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"Walter, I don't want to go." Ralph hugs his mentor.

The man with the 197 IQ hugs him back tightly, refusing to cry, refusing to admit he has any amount of emotional quotient, except towards Ralph.

Neither genius is used to physical contact and this is the first time- for Walter at least- that he craved it.

"I know buddy, just remember, I'll be there for you. No matter what." He states,avoiding Paige's eyes, watching them from inside her car. " You are always welcome here."

The pair was moving to Portland, so Ralph could remain with his father or rather, away from his family of genius to live a boring, inefficient and meaningless life in Portland. Walter felt himself chocking up at the thought.

"Walter, when I get older, can I come back? Could I be apart of scorpion?" He asks hopefully, still hugging him tightly.

"Ralph, you are apart of the team. No matter if you are here or 3088.6 miles away. You are always welcome here, you are apart of the cyclone." He finds himself kissing the boys head. He felt as though Paige was taking his own son away, though, he had no parental or legal claim or attachment to Ralph of any sort.

He felt Ralph was his own.

He couldn't help but feel resentful towards Paige as she waited in the car, ten feet from where Walter held Ralph tightly in his arms.

"I got you this." Ralph pulls away and digs his hand into his pocket, digging for something. "I know we don't really believe in talismans and stuff but I took this the day I met you. It was my friends idea to make it into a keychain."

The boy genius produces a chain from his pocket. Connected at the end was an empty sugar packet marked kavelsky's. " it's from the diner, when you played chess with me, with the sugar packets." Ralph admits shyly.

To the boys surprise, Walter laughs, taking an identical chain from his back pocket.

"I made you the same thing." Ralph laughs as they exchange keychains.

"Ralph honey, it's time to go." Paige calls out gently from the window of the drivers seat. Both geniuses immediately stop laughing and Ralph's tears begin to fall. He hugs the man in front of him one more time.

"Walter?" He cry's tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"Remember that time when we built the small rocket for my science fair, and I almost forgot to clamp it down?"

"Yeah?" Walters voice cracks.

"Instead of yelling at me, we did an equation to figure out what the size of the hole would be and how far the rocket would continue to fly after it hit the first wall."

"I remember." Walter clutches his sugar packet present. " You won the science fair."

"It was the most _efficient_ day of my life." Ralph cried, grabbing Walter once again and sobbing like a normal child, though the reality was, Ralph was a million miles from normal.

Nobody could change him but then again, few would want to.

It's then, Walters tears begin to shed as well.

"I love you too, buddy." Kissing his cheek before walking Ralph into the car and buckling the boy in, as if he was incapable of doing so himself.

Walter runs his fingers through the boys hair one last time before closing a the door and hesitantly walking to towards the drivers seat window, wiping his face from the tears that had made an appearance for the first time in years.

He knocks on the window, signaling for the single mother to lower it.

Paige frowns as tears steam down her face as she had watched the exchange taking place in front of her only ten seconds before. She didn't want to leave the garage, to take Ralph, to leave Walter- the only person she had trusted to keep her safe since drew left the first time.

She had to continuously remind herself of her sons near death experience yesterday. How he almost died trying to be like the man that invested so much into him.

She also had to continuously remind herself that the genius standing before her was not the boys father. Though she guessed Ralph wished that was the case and at times, so did she.

Paige rolls down her window to say goodbye to her boss and the man that changed her life forever.

"Walter, thank you for everything. I'll never be able to repay you for all that you've done for me and Ralph." She begins through her tears, she takes a deep breath before continuing. "I know we fought yesterday but I-"

"What your doing is illogical." He hisses at her harshly, not wanting Ralph to hear, he leans in close to her and continues. " I've always thought you were a great mother, and I've always supported your decision at the end of the day." His voice cracks and he straitens up stiffly. " Not this time." He croaks harshly. " This is a _Mistake._ "

He waves once more to Ralph before stuffing his hands in his pockets, balling them into fists before walking back in to the garage with his head hung low.

"Walter-" Paige finally croaks, she gets out of her car and tries to stop him, but he continues walking. "Walter!" He stops by the door frame, hand on the knob.

He doesn't turn and she can't see the frown plastered on his face.

"So that's it? That's goodbye?"

He's silent for a minute before turning to face her, not making any move in her direction.

"You know you are wrong to leave us." He shakes his head, his tears brimming as he adds, " To leave _Me_."

He holds her gaze, as if begging her to understand.

She doesn't and he doesn't know how to make her understand.

She breaks the eye contact and looks at the ground, reminding herself that she was doing this for her son. She reaches over to hug him, touch his arm, whatever contact he would permit, but he jumps away, looking as betrayed as he felt.

"Goodbye Paige Dineen." He opens the garage door and slams it shut, in the face of Scorpions EX- liaison.

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	2. Chapter 2

"We've cut off his access to the security cameras but he's got guards set up at every entrance in the building, the only way to get in or out is through the pipe but it's probably contaminated." Director Merrik explains to the remaining Scorpion members the position of the hostage situation.

The team had been spending a lot of time with the director of homeland security over the last two months because the genius with the 197 IQ still refuses to work with his father figure, former Agent Cabe Gallo.

"But by the time they test the pipe, the hour will be up and says he will kill the hostage!" Sylvester exclaims nervously. "It's too dangerous, the odds of the pipe being clear of the chemical are 39.8 percent!"

"Walter, any ideas?"

The group turns to face their leader, only to discover he was no longer with the group.

"O' Brian!" Director Merrik yells into his communication device. "O'Brian come in!"

"The pipe is mostly fine." The leader whispers to the device in his ear as he crawls beneath the ground.

"Oh no." Toby mutters, clicking the surveillance camera button on his iPad.

He directs the camera towards the place where the pipe led out, only to find Walter climbing out, the chemical burning holes through his shirt as he rips it off his body, his wife beater still intact.

"This is definitely couch time Walter." The behavioral psychiatrist yells at him, but the man with the 197 IQ just rolls his eyes.

"Happy, I need directions to the lab that lets me shut down all the power in the building."

"Skirt down the hall to the ri-״

"O'Brian! You are out manned and out gunned, you have no authorization to be in there!" The home land director yells.

"I'm a private contractor, I work with you, not for you." Walter hisses a reminder back into the device in his ear. "Happy?"

As the mechanical prodigy gave him directions to the Control room, Walter made an effort to avoid the guards and the anxious criminal with a gun continuously pointing at the head of a thirty six year old bank teller who's identity was revealed to be Marla Grant.

"He won't kill her." Toby says to Walter, angling his camera at the criminal. "That nervous twitch he's got, head leaning towards the victim rather than away. The teller looks too comfortable, almost a bit smug and she isn't putting up a fight? Do they know each other? He looks like he thought he could get out of this Scott free." The shrink observed.

Walter took a closer look at the situation, as he hid around the corner.

"Wedding band." He murmurs, not wanting to be heard. "Identical."

"Marla grant married to Scott Martian July 2005. That's our guy." Sylvester read off his computer screen.

"Walter, get out of there."

"I need to disarm him." Walter mumbles looking around him for inspiration.

"We just established that he won't kill her so you-"

"What about the other hostages?"

"Walter, he is ex-military!" Sylvester explains worriedly looking over Toby's shoulder. " Based on his ability and size alone, your chances of you coming out of this fight almost unscathed is 38%."

Toby glances over at Sylvester with a frown.

"And then factoring in your emotional state-"

"I don't have emotions Toby." Walter states plainly.

"We can argue about denial at couch time, until then, your emotions are lowering your odds during every case we accept." Toby analyzes the bruises under his eyes from sleepless nights, the way his shirt flares out slightly and his belt buckle was put a bit tighter, because of the meals he had been skipping.

"Do not engage Walt, I repeat, do not engage." Happy says, "Continue strait to the control room."

The communication was cut off when Walter ripped the device out of his ear.

"Crud." Toby mutters.

"He just lowered his chances by five percent." Sylvester yells.

"He knows." Happy watches with her eyes wide in anticipation. The team anxiously watches as Walter tactlessly attacks the terrorist, only to receive a bloody noose and black eye.

The genius refuses to back down as he continued to get beaten to a pulp.

"Send in swat, Martians distracted and he won't hear the guards calling him." Toby directs the Director of Homeland security.

Merrik hesitates,

"Do it now before this guy kills Walter." Happy yells.

"S.W.A.T." The bald man calls, sending a signal off before turning to the remaining Scorpion members. "This my operation and I will decide when things need to be done!" He reprimands.

Happy rolls her eyes.

Toby laughs humorlessly and Sylvester remains silent.

Just as Paige had advised they do, before she left.

\- Scorpion-

"I am not in the mood Toby." Walter warns as he presses a bag of frozen, two month old green beans from the freezer. No one has touched anything healthy since liaison left.

"Well then it's a good thing I didn't ask." The shrink quips as he follows the head genius towards his workstation on the opposite side of his untouched rocket. No one has touched it since Ralph left. Toby glances at it before looking back at 197 at his workstation.

"You know, the deadline for the rocket is coming up." Toby comments.

"Mmhmm." Walter ignores him and begins coding on his computer, still holding the frozen bag of green beans to his left eye.

It's quiet for a moment, Walter begins to hope Toby had walked away but refuses to look up and chance him still being there.

"So," Toby says, pulling over a chair and leaning casually back on it. " Slys with Megan. Happy and I are going out. Maybe it's time to call Cabe-"

"I don't need Cabe." Walter mutters, still staring stubbornly at the computer screen.

"Maybe," Toby murmured, "So call Paige."

Walter stiffens up at the mention of her name.

"I don't need her." Walter hisses, "Go away Toby."

"You are deteriorating before our very eyes!" Toby explained. " You feel hurt because you loved her and she left you."

"I don't feel love, it's junk science." He stands up and begins heading towards the loft, anywhere the shirk wasn't. "Give it a rest, Toby."

"Not until you admit you loved Paige Dineen." Walters fist clenched.

No one had mentioned the absence of the liaison since she left. No one had mentioned her name until now. Even two months later, Walter didn't want to hear it.

"That's illogical." Walter replies through his grinding teeth.

"And attacking an armed, Ex-military criminal with survival being at a less than a forty percent chance, was logical to you?"

Walter remained silent, pleading the fifth.

"But you like that, taking risks." Toby continues walking towards Walter, making the genius feel as though he was being interrogated. " Because it temporarily occupies your mind."

Walter continues walking toward his bedroom in the loft but Toby follows.

" You can't stop thinking about her, or Ralph." He continues.

"Shut it Toby."

"Hey, this came in the mail today, it was addressed to you." The shrink lifted a letter Walter handing noticed he had been holding. "It looked important and private so I figured you wouldn't mind if I took a look."

It was a bill.

" You went through my mail?" Walter mused, "I'll leave you more work to occupy your time tomorrow."

The psychiatrist rolls his eyes.

"It says that last week, you spent two hundred dollars on a 'MUSE', you know the tool that would let one with the proper telescope create 3D pictures and videos of anything the telescope could find. But we don't have the proper telescope, and the MUSE isn't here, but you know who does have the proper telescope?"

"Yes Toby, I sent Ralph a present for his birthday last week." Walter admits, not facing the shrink, only facing the door in front of him.

"And no one called you to thank you." Toby adds. He was referring to Paige, though he didn't receive anything from Ralph either. Though, 197 hadn't expected anything in return.

"She doesn't want to talk to me and I don't need her to."

"Or maybe," Toby interjects, " It hurts her to."

Walter raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"What?" He asks, turning to face the shrink.

"I'm going out with Happy now, take time to ponder that." Toby smirks, turning around and jogging down the staircase.

"Toby!" Walter tries to stop him but the shrink ignores him.

"And sleep or something, you look like heck." He comments making a b-line for the garage exit. "See you tomorrow!" He yells before locking the door behind him.

Walter sighs and rolls his eyes, deciding to shower and attempt to sleep.

Walter hated remembering every detail if his life.

He contemplated calling Cabe, now that time had passed, he could clearly see that Cabe would have never wanted to hurt him or hurt any civilians in Baghdad. In fact, Cabe had saved him by not telling him the true, evil intent of the Technology he had created to send aid packages to American soldiers. But Every time Walter thought back to that moment he discovered his invention was used to kill so many innocents, every detail floods back into the forefront of his mind and that feeling of betrayal is renewed.

As he got dressed, he busied his brain with any to all equations he could come up with.

He doesn't bother getting into his pajamas because he knows he won't be able to sleep, so he just dresses in his work cloths.

The man lies down and ignores the throbbing of his eye, as he pulls out a small sugar packet Key Chain, groaning at the sound of the doorbell.

With a reluctant sigh he heads downstairs, still trying to occupy his mind with equations.

The doorbell stops ringing but a light knock comes from the door.

Frowning, Walter opens the door.

He freezes at the sight in front of him.

A ten-year-old boy, knocking at the garage door with nothing but a backpack and a black eye.

"Ralph?"

He's supposed to be in Maine.

The boy shuffled his feet nervously.

"Airport security has significantly less firewalls and coding than some foreign military base, and I figured, I've hacked that before."

Walter drops to his knees and stares at he boy before he thoughtlessly pulls him in for a hug; Ralf hugs him back tightly. Walter Ruffles the boys hairs.

"I missed you too buddy."

-Scorpion-

 **Thanks to all My Great Reviews, it makes me feel really good and also reminds me to updates, Please Continue to Review :)**


	3. Chapter 3

"What happened to your eye?" Walter asks, picking up the ten year old. He continued to hold him close as Ralph keeps his arms wrapped around his mentor.

The contact was out if character for the both of them.

"I got into a fight at school." He frowned sounding younger than he had in years.

"He hit you." It wasn't a question, it was a fact.

"Don't worry," Ralph pulls away to look at him, "I got him right in the nose."

Walter chuckles as he remembers teaching Ralph to defend himself from bullies when him and his mother first came to Team Scorpion.

Of course, since then his emotional quotient had radically increased, increasing the amount of friends he had and those friends would help defend him against bullies. Ralph had never found a use for the lessons.

Evidently, until he moved to Maine.

"What happened to your face?"

"I got into a fight." Walter smiles at the boy.

"With Happy?" He questions, causing Walter to let out a loud, sincere laugh. His first since the small boys absence.

"Close but no. With a terrorist."

Walter hands Ralph his cold bag of green beans.

"You look different." Ralph comments with a frown. "Like mom."

Walter raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"You lost weight and your eyes are tired. Just like mom."

Walter didn't dare hope the boy's mother felt as miserable as he had been feeling since she had left.

He placed the boy down on his desk and he stood in front of him.

"Does she know you are here? Is she with you?" He glances back at door, his heart rate speeding up but the entrance remains empty.

"No to both."

"You ran away?"

Ralph doesn't respond, he just looks around the room avoiding his mentor's eyes.

"Shoot." Walter sighs sitting next Ralph.

"Don't tell her!" Ralph's eyes widened. " I don't want her. I want to stay with you."

Walter frowned; his own EQ levels had plummeted since Paige left. It cause a lot if problems during cases but Walter couldn't deny that he wanted to keep the boy here and not tell his mother. Ralph EQ seems to be on overdrive.

He sighs.

"She'll call the police, you need to call her. She'll be worrying about you."

"So? Worrying is irrational. The result will remain the same no matter what she feels." Ralph frowns defiantly at first, until his defiance turns into sadness. "If she doesn't care about what I feel, why should I care about what she feels?"

Walter knew what cause the boy at act out in such an extreme way.

"Ralph, what you did, hacking your way on an airplane and-"

"Hitch hiking."

Walter frowns.

"And hitch hiking over here, it was dangerous."

Ralph nods in agreement.

"But rational and necessary."

Walter raised an eyebrow.

"How do you see that?"

"I know you care about me, because while mom was working a double shift, I had a babysitter on my birthday and while Drew was out playing a game, you remembered and you sent me a birthday present."

Walter was still confused.

"But you think birthdays are nonsensical?"

"But Mom and Drew," Ralph spat his fathers name in disgust, "Don't."

Emotional overload.

Walter understood Ralph, just like he always had.

"Mom never let me call you or anyone on the team. I wasn't aloud to say your name but I hate it in Portland. It's cold and wet. I'm not calling her."

Walter sighs.

"Alright buddy." Walter stands taking the boys hand and begins leading him up the stairs towards the loft, "I'll call her but it's late now. How about you go get dressed for bed and tomorrow, I'll cancel work and we could spend the day together. I've been waiting for you to finish my rocket."

"Really?" The boy's eyes light up, " I thought for sure you finished it."

"Nope," Walter smiled happily at the boy. " Not without you, buddy."

The boy just smiles as they make their way to Walter's room.

"Can I borrow a shirt for pajamas?" Ralph asks, surprising Walter.

"What's in you knapsack?" Walter questions. He assumed Ralph had packed some items in his bag but Ralph had just dropped it by the door, the way he used to drop his schoolbooks.

"You came from school?" Walter hit his head in realization.

The boy shrugs.

"Alright, alright." He passed the boy an old tee-shirt of his, it was too big on him now but then again, so were all his clothes.

After putting Ralph asleep by reading him a story in his mentor's bed, Walter quietly made his way downstairs.

Nervously he picks up his cell phone and dialed the phone of the liaison.

"Walter." A man answers the phone on the first ring. Walter feels his grip tighten around the phone.

"Drew."

"Look," Drew began, his tone sounding aggressive. " Ralph is M.I.A right now so now isn't the -"

"Put Paige on the phone." Walter cuts him off. "I called her cell, not yours. It's important."

"No, Walter now isn't the right time to-"

"Is that my phone?"

Walter could hear the voice of the liaison farther away from the receiver. It was stressed and scared. Walter knew that tone quite well.

He couldn't help notice the voice of the liaison still made him shiver.

"Walter?" She takes the phone, her voice sounding high pitched and panicked.

"Paige, calm-"

"Walter, now is a really bad time." The woman's voice starts to thicken with tears.

"Ralph-"

"Ralph got into a fight at school. Then he just- just disappeared." Walter was having problems deciphering the mother's words through her tears.

"Paige-"

"The police are here, helping but not making much progress."

"Paige, Ralph is-"

"You understand him Walter, where would he have gone?"

"Paige-"

"I checked everywhere and he-"

"Paige!" He finds himself yelling into the receiver and then remembering his guest upstairs.

"Yeah?" She cried quietly.

"Ralph would go to his home." Is all Walter says, trying to hide his pride.

"I checked; he's not here."

"He's not In Portland, Paige. He hates it there."

"I- I don't understand." She questions, though this time a bit quieter.

"He's here. He hacked his way on an airplane and hitchhiked to the garage."

"What!?" She yelled into the receiver, "Walter has him." She says to Drew somewhere off the line, she couldn't help but sound relieved.

"Let me talk to him." Paige demands.

"He's sleeping." Walter refrains from adding that Ralph doesn't want to talk to her. That Ralph feels she had betrayed him.

"I don't care, wake him up. I need to hear his voice."

"Paige, he had a long day and-"

"He doesn't want to speak to me, does he?"

Walter remains silent.

"I can't come get him until Friday." Paige attempts to hold back her tears, " Maybe you could put him on the plane and I'll pick him up here..."

"He's welcome here as long as he wants to stay." Walter says more aggressively than he means to.

"Um...ok." She breathes deeply.

Both parties remain silent. Walter hears Drew calling Paige's name but she doesn't respond to him at first.

"Hold on." She eventually snaps at the washed out reliever.

The genius could hear the sound of the movement on the other line.

"Walter?" She asks again, her voice is thick with emotion.

"Paige." Is all he says, not noticing how tightly he had the phone pressed to his ear until it began to hurt.

"I-I miss you." She admits, quietly into the phone.

He doesn't respond as he stiffens in his chair.

He hears her sigh.

"I'm not asking you to respond in kind, I just needed to let you know is all." When he still doesn't respond, it's not because he's ignoring her. He doesn't know what to do with the new information.

"I'll come get Ralph on Friday," It was blatantly obvious she was crying now. "I'm sorry he did this, have him call me when he wakes up."

No response.

"Bye Walter." Is the last thing he heard before the line cuts off and he can't help but feeling worse than before he made the phone call.

She missed him?

That's illogical; he is the reason why she left. Her fears of having Ralph become too much like him. She chose to leave him, not the other way around.

But to himself, he couldn't deny that he missed having her around.

His desk still smelled like lavender, because it was her favorite scent.

The team had invested in a new coffee pot, because even though the woman had been gone for two months, he still insisted on putting cinnamon in his pot even though everyone else hated it.

Without thinking, he hits the redial button on his cell phone.

"Walter?" She almost sounded hopeful, but the man with the 197 IQ doesn't know what to make of it. He chocks on his words.

He wants to tell her he misses her. That he could now comprehend the feeling of longing and therefore avoided her name or any reference to her as if it was the plague.

A few moments passed before he is able to speech.

"I- um. Miss dialed."

 **PLEASE REVIEW**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Hi! Sorry this is a Repost because the format got messed up, sorry about that._**

 ** _New stories Summery on the bottom and SURPRISE, One shot coming your way to make up for this annoying Repost ;) Check it out. I don't own Scorpion or any of its characters. K._**

 ** __SCORPION__**

"Hi Walter." Ralph watches as the genius with the 197 IQ comes down the stairs. He freezes on the staircase.

"Ralph?" He smiles brightly.

He remembers the boy coming to the garage. But, the he remembered it so vividly; He assumed it was a dream.

"Hey buddy." He makes his way towards Ralph and ruffles his hair.

"I need cloths." The boy comments. He was still wearing Walters's gigantic tee shirt.

"Yeah, I know." The mentor guides the boy from the couch towards the kitchen and begins taking out the child's favorite cereal. He hated the thing but found himself eating it every morning since the liaisons departure.

"We could go out and buy you some after you eat, buddy." He pauses for a moment to take out his phone, texting the team not to come in today.

"Could we work on the rocket first?" The boy questions hopefully.

Walter looks up and smiles at the ten- excuse him- eleven year old. He wants to agree but sighs instead.

"I think it would be more efficient if we worked on that afterwards so we don't have to stop."

Ralph frowns but nods in agreement.

"You should... call your mother." Walter tentatively states as he hands the boy a spoon.

"She's working." Ralph responds quickly and begins eating his cereal, avoiding Walters gaze.

"Ralph." Walter warns. "I know you don't want to but at one time or another you are going to have to. The most efficient thing to do is call her now." Walter explains, his voice stern, almost…fatherly. "Get it over with."

Ralph doesn't respond at first but Walter continues to watch him.

Eventually, the boy frowns childishly before extending his hand for the phone.

"Oh, you still have her number saved." Ralph comments as he lifts the device to his ear, only to put it back down and put it on speaker. His mentor looks at him with an eyebrow raised in confusion as it begins to ring.

"Yeah?" He questions, his voice sounding as bewildered as he feels.

"She deleted yours the moment we got on the air plane to Portland." Ralph says.

Walter just stares at him for a moment. His expression was blank.

 _'_ _Does she hate me? Why?'_ He couldn't help but wonder.

"I'm not allowed to talk about you at home, so really at all." Ralph shrugs casually as he continues to elaborate. "She's being irrational and-"

"Hello?" Paige answers in confusion.

Well, Ralph just explained why she didn't know who was calling. Walter rolls his eyes and sits beside Ralph, pouring himself a bowl of the disgusting cereal.

"Mom." Is all Ralph says. No greetings of any sort. Just an answer to who was on his side of the line. A fact.

Walter puts down his spoon and watches the exchange. It didn't surprise Walter that the boy didn't want to speak to his mother- In fact, he had attempted to warn Paige of the probability of that happening before she ran away -but the way Ralph seems to have disconnected completely from his mother…. Walter couldn't help but be reminded of the way he, himself had disconnected from Cabe so many years ago and again two months prior. He felt and feels betrayed. Just like Ralph does now.

At this realization, Walter can't help but feel glad that he had told his team to stay out of the garage today because he knew what Toby would say and the last thing he wanted right now was the shirks psychoanalyzing every move he made.

The shrink would question him on why he doesn't call Cabe and help Paige by setting an example for the eleven year old but last time Toby suggested he help Paige by helping Drew connect to Ralph, she got up and took the boy three thousand miles away.

There were two many factors in helping Paige and the last time he tried, the results were unfavorable. He couldn't help but feel betrayed by her as well.

"Ralph!" Her voice rings through garages kitchen. " We are going to talk about this when I get to you tomorrow! Are you okay? I heard you got into a fight at school."

Ralph frowns and hands Walter the phone, though it's still on speaker, he leaves to play proton Arnold on the opposite side of the garage without another word. The man frowns as he watches the boy walk away.

"Ralph?"

"He has a black eye." Walter states as he watches the boy turn on the refurbished machine.

"Walter." She says, her voice almost breathless though she seemed fine a minute ago.

"Is his eye okay?"

"He'll be fine."

"Okay." She breathes. The phone remains silent for a few awkward moments before Walter finally clears his throat.

"When will you get here?" Walter continues in the most efficient way he could.

"My flight is tonight, I'll land by you at 4 am. I'm staying in a motel around the corner from the garage; I'll take a cab there and pick him up in the morning."

He hesitates and looks at the boy playing proton Arnold.

 _'Don't take a cab, I'll pick you up!'_ He wants to say. ' _Say it Walter!'_ He yells at himself, _'just say it.'_

"And when will you depart?" He says instead.

"Three thirty the same day." Paige replies, her voice thick for reasons Walter couldn't comprehend. "That's the first flight I could find."

Walter clutches his phone tightly. The first flight she could find?

 _'_ _Is it so bad being me? Being around me?'_ He remembers yelling to her, two months earlier. She had never directly answered the question; She avoided it.

But now he got his answer.

"Bye Paige." He says hanging up the phone without waiting for a response.

Mr.197 stares at the wall for a moment as if it would provide some comfort, or answers or whatever it is that he needs. The problem being that he's not even sure what it is he needs.

His fingers are tapping repeatedly on the kitchen table and his other hand covers his mouth, balled in a fist, as he decides his next move. His body is stiff yet somehow stretched in an uncomfortable position.

He glances at the boy on the other side of the room.

There is no way in heck he was helping Paige Dineen.

"Ralph, maybe you should shower and put on what you wore yesterday." The boy frowns but reluctantly agrees and quickly makes his way towards the loft.

"My hypothesis is that all the towels and bottles are in the same places as they were the last time I was here." It wasn't a question, though the child genius pauses on the steps to ask it.

"Correct." The boy nods and Walter watches as he makes his way upstairs.

He was _not_ going to help Paige. That was decided. But he would _help Ralph_. Help was something Walter couldn't and wouldn't ever deny the boy.

He sighs and takes out his phone, scrolling through the contacts. Slowly he finds Cabe's number in his phones address book.

He hesitates before it he places the call and his body stoic as he presses the device against his ear.

"Walter?" A Gruff voice answers after the second ring. "You okay son? Uh, I mean Walter." The man's voice was laced with concern, almost emitting the emotion on guilt on Mr. No-Emotion-Quotient's side of the line.

Walter clears his throat.

"I'm fine." He admits. " Cabe, meet me at Kavelsky's. 12 noon."

No greetings, no games and no curtsey questions. Similar to the conversation Ralph had with his mother earlier.

"Yeah of course." Cabe replies without hesitation. Then the genius hangs up the phone.

He doesn't say greetings or pleasantries anymore. He only ever did for the sake of the liaison. She told him that it made him seem more _human_ and for a minute, Walter had convinced himself that was a _good_ idea.

Now, he knew better.

He pushes the bowl away, loosing his appetite.

 ** __SCORPION__**

It's not long after that Ralph is dressed and ready.

"Walter," The boy asks as his mentor closes the garage door behind him. "Will I get to see the team today?"

Walter glances down at the boy as they walk towards his busted red car.

"Honestly, I wasn't planning on telling them you were here," He shrugs, "It's been a mess in the garage since you guys left."

"Could we invite them to come over tonight?" Ralph questions, climbing into the back seat when Walter unlocks the car.

Walter frowns for a moment. He wanted to selfishly have the boy to himself; he didn't want to share the limited time Ralph had in the garage. But he cares more about what Ralph wants than what he wants. Besides, it may be good for him.

"Yeah, sure buddy. If that's what you want."

The boy smiles excitedly in the back seat as Walter started digging for his phone in his back pocket before handing it to the child in the back seat.

"Here, text them to be in the garage at six, we could keep you a surprise and order a pizza."

"Sounds efficient to me." The boy swipes the phone. Walter laughs- a relatively new sound since the Dineen's departure- and turns on the ignition and carefully backs out of driveway beside the garage.

The last place he had seen Paige so many months ago.

As they drive towards the mall closest to Kavelsky's ( Obviously for efficiency because he had planned to meet with former Agent Cabe Gallo afterwards) Ralph spoke adamantly about the security systems he had hacked to get to California.

Walter knew what Ralph did wasn't favorable in his mother's eyes but in his eyes- he couldn't help but feel grateful for the boys poor judgment and proud of his accomplishments.

It wasn't until they entered the cloths store that Ralph lowers his voice and begins walking a bit closer to his mentor. Ralph was a shy kid. Walter ran his fingers through the boy's hair as they walkthrough the department store.

Together, they head towards the kids department where Ralph would inevitably hate majority of the clothes the store had to offer as Walter awkwardly followed behind the child.

He had never shopped for someone else before- with the exception of his sister Megan, who uses his money to order online.

He couldn't help but feel lost, even as he is directing the small genius though each section. By the end of the hour, Ralph had chosen a button up shirt and some simple black dress pants.

Walter smiles remembering how he had worn the same thing for his school picture day so long ago.

He smiles as Ralph comes out of the dressing room, oblivious to the boys intention to emulate him.

As they wait on line to pay the cashier, the two geniuses talk about what the store could do to improve not only its lay out but also its productivity and the registers speed.

Walter can't help the annoyance he feels watching the woman at the register move slowly as the line behind the one open register continued to grow behind him.

"Your son is adorable!" The woman smiles when it's his turn and when Walter watches Ralph smile and bounce on the balls of his feet from the pleasure he receives from the woman's error, he can't help smile and thank this otherwise irksome woman as he wordlessly fills her tip jar.

He doesn't want to correct her and Ralph doesn't seem to mind.

Back at the car, the man watches through his rear view mirror as Ralph buckles into the back seat of his broken down car and can't help but notice how carefully he drives with the eleven-year-old sitting patiently in his back seat.

"Ralph?"

The boy doesn't respond, he just looks at him.

"How was Maine?"

The boy frowns and doesn't respond though honestly, Walter didn't expect him too.

He purses his lips, he can't help but wonder about the boy's mother.

He had said she had lost weight and didn't sleep well.

"Last night you mentioned that your mother and I had been loosing sleep and weight within the last two months."

The boy glances up at his mentor before nodding for him to continue.

"Is she…Um, okay?" Walter finds himself chewing on his bottom lip. Of course, He isn't worried...just-um, curious.

Ralph remains silent for a moment longer and Walter begins to think he doesn't plan to respond at all.

"No." He says plainly after a moment or two.

Walter frowns and waits for him to elaborate.

"She's ...unpredictable. She rarely smiles and eats too little. She's always working and I rarely see her."

"And when you do?" Walter continues to press, dissatisfied by the news for reasons he refuses to comprehend.

"She either doesn't want to look at me or brings me to her bed and hugs me." He shrugs with a frown, "I pretend I'm asleep."

"Why?" Walter whispers.

"Toby told Happy and me that repressing feelings are bad for a persons mental health." Mr.197 doubted Toby mentioned such a thing for Ralph's benefit over Happy's.

"So? What are you repressing by feigning sleep? "

"Not _me_ , Mom." Ralph looks strait at Walter's eyes through the mirror and admits one of his mother's greatest secrets. _"She won't cry if she knows I'm awake."_

 ** __SCORPION__**

 ** _Hope You Enjoyed-_**

 ** _Two new stories coming up, trying to decides which to post first:_**

 ** _1) Walters father has 72 hours to live and he convinces Paige and Ralph to come with him to Callan, Ireland with him until his father dies, because he doesn't know how to deal with his mothers emotions...or his own. To make matters worse, his fathers last wish is that Mr.197 should take over the farm as the last remaining Male O'Brian-_**

 ** _I'm almost done writing this complete story._**

 ** _2) Walter and Paige wake up after a case in Los Vegas, in a hotel room with matching wedding bands..._**

 ** _I wrote the first 5 chapters and I'm not sure how long this story will be._**

 ** _I wrote both summaries quite terribly but which do you prefer? Which should I post first?_**

 ** _Do people really read authors notes?_**

 **** ** _PLEASE REVIEW AND ILL UPDATE AS SOON AS I CAN ;)_**


	5. Chapter 5

"Why are we here?" Ralph asks quietly as Walter turns into the parking lot at Kavelskys.

The remainder of the ride was silent, a frown plastered on the older geniuses face.

 _'She won't cry if she knows I'm awake'_

Ralph's words continue to replay in his head and he cant shake the nagging feeling that her pain was his fault. Maybe if he had begged her to stay rather than fighting her id10tic and illogical decision to take the boy away, she wouldn't have left. Maybe if he had warned Ralph that the things he did for his job were reckless and that he should never attempt emulate that dangerous part of him, Paige wouldn't be in this mess.

Maybe if he had never hired her in the first place….

There were so many things that he could have done differently, that wouldn't result in the liaison crying in front of her son.

"Walter?"

197 shakes his head and blinks a few times in an attempt to once again rejoining the real world.

"Yeah buddy?" He asks unbuckling and turning off the old cars ignition.

"That's Cabe Gallows car." The boy points to the black Chevy across the lot.

Walter smiles, opening his door and going to the back to open Ralph's.

"That's quite the observation. We are having lunch with him."

Ralph remains in his seat, a confused expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" Walter asks.

"I don't understand, he's a liar."

"He lied." Walter corrects him though honestly, he didn't walk in there anymore than Ralph did.

"Twice." Ralph remembers and Walter nods, the boy's confusion beginning to transform into frustration.

"Trusting him again is insane, you said it yourself. Doing something twice and expecting different results is the definition of insanity." The boy runs his fingers through his hair as a frustrated habit he had picked up from Walter. "This would be your third time. Why are you expecting different results?"

"Come out and I'll explain." Ralph quickly obliges and they begin walking towards the diner.

"You know why geniuses are generally bad with normal people?"

"We don't like them?" Ralph suggests.

"Close." Walter chuckles, " It's because normal people generally base their decisions on pure and unwarranted emotion, while-"

"Geniuses base their decisions on pure logic." The boy fills in.

"Exactly, and we just can't comprehend the emotional side of their irrational decisions." Walter attempts to explain as he opens the door and lets Ralph walk in before him.

"So?" Ralph questions as his mentor surveys the available booths.

Walter notices former Agent Cabe Gallo wearing a black sweat jacket and a blue tee shirt, watching them stiffly from a corner booth.

He gets down on one knee to be at eye level with the boy.

"So when we have emotions, we don't realize that the decisions we make become irrational because we usually don't made irrational decisions. We don't realize when someone- a big _factor_ in our lives- makes a decision that in the long run, is meant to protect us." Walter whispers. It was up to Ralph to apply this situation to the problem he is having with his mother.

"It's like missing a factor in the equation?" Ralph questions as Walter rises to his feet.

"Exactly, now what we need to do is solve for X." 197 straitens up and begins leading the way towards the former agent.

Walter doesn't give himself a chance to notice how nervous he was becoming. It wasn't that he didn't want to make up with Cabe, he was sick of that feeling of betrayal living in his gut. Logically speaking, he knew Cabe made a heavy decision to save him in the long run. So heavy in fact, it cost two thousands civilians their life.

"It didn't play into the greater good scenario." Walter says to Cabe as he slides into the booth. "Not telling me about the bombs in Baghdad. Better you be tried for treason and me in prison than two thousand civilians killed."

"Your right but your forgetting that two thousand civilians were not the intended target." Cabe replies, very used to Walters lacking social skills.

"It was an Iraqi leader. One life of he terrorist for both of our freedom."

"I understand that now." Walter admits still stiff. " But I replay the event without those things factoring in, and I uh- know it's irrational at this point but it's like a whole new betrayal."

Walter glances over at Ralph, to remind himself the reason he initiated this meeting in the first place and though the boy pretends to look at the menu, Walter knew better than believe it.

Ralph would get the chocolate chip waffles for lunch and pretend to still be hungry in order to manipulate his mentor to buy him two scoops of vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles along with a chocolate chip cookie the size of his head.

Ralph pulled the same move every time. So though he pretends to look through Kavelskys menu, Walter knew that the boy was actually analyzing his conversation.

 _"_ _Ralph admires you, worships you, copies everything you do..."_ He remembers Paige telling him that before she took him away. Honestly, he was hoping to use that to his advantage and fix the relationship between Ralph and his betraying mother. He was doing this for Ralph of course, not for Paige.

"Walt?" Cabe questions, bringing Walter back to the conversation at hand. " I'm sorry, you know the last thing I wanted would be to hurt you."

"I know." Walter says quickly.

"You do?" Cabe questions in surprise, hope seeping through every word. Not that either genius noticed it.

"Yes and I've decided to give you another chance." Walter says, his hands together and his back strait as if this were a business meeting.

"But?" Cabe questions, knowing his 'son' wasn't quite finished yet.

"No more secrets." Walter finishes. " I'm not playing this hiding game again."

"Will do, son." The old man smiles before turning to Ralph. "Hey Ralph, how about an ice cream Sunday?"

The boy nods with a small, careful smile on his face.

"Where's his mother?" Cabe asks Walter, " Haven't seen Paige in a while."

"She isn't here." Walter says, trying to hide the resentment in his voice. "She quit when you left, they moved to Portland."

Cabe's eyebrows rise in surprise as the waitress shows up.

Walter can't help but regret his decision to come to Kavelskys. The Waitresses had identical uniforms as the waitresses at _Frank's Restaurant_ -where he had met Paige so long ago.

"Could I help you?" The woman asks, her hair tied back and her pencil at the ready of her note pad.

"Just a pizza for the table, water and an ice cream Sunday." Cabe winks at Ralph who smiles brightly at him.

"Anything else?" She questions politely. Walter rolls his eyes, looking away from her. If Cabe had wanted more, he would have said so.

 _Id10ts, all of them._

"No, thank you." Cabe says as Walter begins tapping the table impatiently.

Cabe raises an eyebrow at Walter as the waitress bounces away.

"Pretty sweet of Paige to send Ralph to you for the weekend." Walter is about to disagree, maybe throw in a line about how 'sweet' was the opposite of 'Paige.' But he looks at the boy, pretending not to pay attention beside him and sighs. He couldn't lie in front of him.

"She didn't." He explains, " Ralph came to visit without her permission. Pretty impressive I have to admit."

Ralph tries to hide his satisfied smile.

"And she knows he's here?" Cabe questions unsurprised, he had known Walter since he was a child, and Ralph had a similar intelligence.

"Yes. She'll be here tomorrow morning and she's leaving tomorrow afternoon."

"What?!" Ralph finally speaks, looking up at his mentor in surprise. "That's it? She's

Ridiculous." He pouts, finally acting his age. " I'm not going with her."

Walter sighs but doesn't say anything to him, instead he just pats the boys head.

"Cabe, the teams coming over tonight. They don't know Ralph is here. You should come." Walter offers nervously. He knows forgiving Cabe and rebuilding his trust for the man would take time, and like he said to Ralph earlier when he needed to call his mother-

The most efficient thing to do is start now.

"Yeah, I'd really like that, son." The old man smiles, "I'm going to be late now, I work on movie sets now-in-days and we are shooting a scene at five, but I'll be there."

"K. Its at six." Walter smiles shyly and through the reflection on the napkin dispenser, Walter watches the boy take in the scene in front of him.

He knows it won't be enough for the boy to forgive his mother. In fact, Walter was attempting to teach Ralph a concept that he, himself could barley comprehend.

 _People._

But maybe one day, Ralph could understand it because he had someone special in his life that Walter had both recently acquired and recently lost.

Ralph had Paige Dineen.

 ** __Scorpion__**

"T-dog in the house!" Toby announces, jumping on the sofa in front of the TV as Walter pays the pizza deliveryman at the garage door. Toby's feet landed on Sylvester's lap.

"Toby!" The human calculator yells, raising his arms above his head. "Germs toby! Germs!"

"Does this bother you?" The shrink asks childishly, lifting his foot to be eye level with the 22 year old.

"Leave him alone doc!" Happy reprimands hitting him on the head and taking the open seat beside him as he sits strait.

"What's going on Walt?" Toby asks raising an eyebrow suspiciously as the genius with the 197 IQ makes his way towards him. " And I better get paid for after hours."

Walter rolls his eyes.

"This isn't a work meeting, it's a social gathering. Your welcome to leave."

"Okay..." Toby leans forward suspiciously and swips a slice of pizza as Walter puts down the two pies.

"I'll bite," Toby asks taking a bite of his pizza and continues to ask with his mouth full. "Why?"

"I uh, have a very special surprise upstairs." Walter puts his hands behind his back, lips parted and begins leaning slightly forwards, his excitement was beginning to show through.

"Paige is here?!" Toby guesses, standing up in surprise, " She's coming back? Look at your face! You're practically glowing! Either paige is coming a back or oyur having a baby, your not having a baby are you?"

"What? No."

"That would explain you mood swings…." Happy mutters.

"So Paige is coming back!" Toby yells.

"Yippee." Happy glares sarcastically as Walter watches in shock. " If you ask me, she should stay away. She's messed with you enough Walt." Her voice rises as if she's yelling to the liaison that was not upstairs.

"Though I understand that Paige leaving hurt you very bad Walter, I disagree with Happy. I think she'll be better here with-"

 _"Paige is not here!"_ Walter yells, shooting a glare at Toby. The garage is silent and Walter takes a deep breath to steady himself. "And she's always welcome here." He finds himself saying. This statement surprising not only his audience, but himself.

He clears his throat before continuing. He hadn't noticed his heart rate speed up.

"She is however, flying in tonight because she left something quite important in LA."

"You?" Toby questions in confusion, taking his seat between the mechanic and the human calculator.

"Stop talking." Happy sends the shrink a glare and Walter just shakes his head in annoyance before turning towards the loft.

"You could come down now Ralph!"

"Ralph?!" Toby jumps once again, knocking a cup of water from Happy's hand and spilling it on her lap. For once, she doesn't threaten him because she's watching the eleven year old boy who was suppose to be over 3,000 miles away descend the staircase 12.76 feet away from her.

"Oh my goodness!" Sly exclaims, making a run towards the beaming little genius.

Walter chuckles watching as the human calculator lifts the boy excitedly.

"Paige actually let you come!" Sly states excitedly. " Toby you owe my fifty bucks-"

"Not so fast!" The doctor walks over to the boy and puts an arm around his shoulder. " See the way his shoulders lifted, he crossed his arms and began shrinking back?"

Ralph scratches his head nervously and begins sucking on his bottom lip.

"We know one other genius that does that when he's withholding information, don't we Walt?" Toby questions accusingly.

It's then that Ralph and Walter lock eyes and realize they are both standing in similar positions. They both chuckle and straiten up.

"My mom will be here tomorrow morning."

"She's coming to take him back to Portland, he just got in last night." Walter explains as he walks over and proudly puts a hand on Ralph's shoulders. " He hacked his way here."

Ralph looks down guiltily thinking he was going to be reprimanded.

"Whoo! Go Ralph!" Toby cheers directing the boy towards the box of pizza.

"Nice Job Kid." Happy nods in approval.

"That's illegal!" Sylvester yells. " He could get arrested! Walter tells him!"

"He knows." Mr. 197 Chuckles and pats the excited kids shoulder

"And you wont do it again, right Ralph?" Sylvester begs.

The boy just shrugs.

"I probably will." He admits sheepishly as Toby hands him a slice of pizza.

"Lighten up Sly, we only get the kid for one night, the least we could do it enjoy it." Toby messes with Sylvester's hair and the human calculator yells in surprise.

"Besides," Toby continues, " If he wants to my beat high score on Proton Arnold, he's going to have to get started."

 ** __Scorpion__**

"Alright Ralph, I think its time to go to bed." This wasn't Walters first time telling the eleven year old. But this time he planned to enforce it.

It was past eleven and with the exception of toby, it was just them two in the garage. When Cabe came, the geniuses couldn't help but be surprised as Ralph and Walter watched them react. It was the first time Walter really bothered to just watch the geniuses interact since Paige left.

Were they always so immaturely entertaining?

At around nine, Cabe had driven Sly and Happy to their apartments but by then Toby had already been passed out on the couch.

Since, the pair has been working on the rocket and every time he attempted to put the boy to sleep he would insist on staying up just a bit longer and because it was his only night in L.A, he couldn't say no.

But now he's watching the boy fall asleep on the engine of the rocket with a wrench in his hand. He knows its time for the boy to go to bed.

"Five more minutes please." He yawns not opening his eyes.

"No Ralph, come on." He picks up the genius, but he's asleep before he has the chance to bring him to the loft. "As my mother would say, sweet dreams."

As he makes his way down the stairs, he's surprised to hear a gentle knock on the garage door and slowly makes his way towards the door.

"Who's there?" He yells.

"Um, Paige. Um- Dineen." She responds and his hand freezes on the doorknob.

"Y-your early." He says, his voice loosing all emotion.

"The Motel lost my reservation."

 _'_ _Your always welcome here.'_ He wants to say but he doesn't, his hand remains frozen on the doorknob.

"Walter?" She asks after a minute, she sounds nervous on the other side of the door. "Could I come in?"

He remains silent and He hears her whisper feebly.

" _I don't have anywhere else to go."_

 ** __Scorpion__**

 ** _!VERY IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE!:_**

 _I'm not into to politics, but his is the only way I know how to say the truth. I follow the news like I'm a disease but I NEED to tell you that it lies. The new york times, NBC, CNN. Its all lies._

 **I'm HERE, in the action. In** ** _ISRAEL_** **.**

 **I can't walk out of my house, only for school down the block because the price could be my death.**

 **Palestinians tried to set fire to my uncles graveyard because they hate me. I've watched a Palestinian terrorist come on my block with a knife, looking for a victim. I've seen them brutally stab people, chanting "Allah Akbar" and for some reason, the Media and the world blame the army and police for stopping them.**

 **They have hurt my family and their own families.**

 **The world refuses to see this. PLEASE SEE IT, even spread it.**

 **Why can't I have the right to protect myself?**

 **It's not a reality anyone should live in, but this is the world.**

 ** _"_** ** _If you want to be ignorant, don't read the news. If you want to be ignorant and miss informed- read the news."_** **–** **Thomas Jefferson (I think)**

 **Obviously not EVERY Palestinian is bad and I'm not asking for any hateful comments, you don't have to believe me.**

 **This isn't politics for me, its life. I'm a witness to Palestinian terror.**

 **Spread the word**

Please review


	6. Chapter 6

**__Please Review__**

 ** __Scorpion__**

"Paige." He says, his eyes wide in surprise.

"Walter." She smiles gently, before her eyes widen. "Your eye!" She exclaims in surprise, her hand swiftly flying to his cheek to inspect the healing injury.

"I'm fine!" He exclaims loudly as he quickly pulls away and Paige retracts her hand and nervously tucks it under her armpit.

"Sorry." She says quietly.

They stare at each other and she bounces uncomfortably.

She's nervous. Very nervous.

Paige stands outside, her arms wrapped around herself.

 _She's cold._

Walter processes this but makes no move to help her.

Ralph was right.

She looks tired, skinny and pale- very pale.

His eyes notice her pitted finger nails.

"Your anemic." He diagnoses, with little proof.

"Huh?" She asks in surprise.

"You need more iron. That's why your nails are pitted." He states, continuously looking at her nails.

She blinks in surprise. Over the last two months, all she could think about was _Walter_. How she missed _Walter_ , how she met _Walter_ and on the plane ride over here, all she could think of was how _Walter_ would react to seeing her. She didn't know what she expected but not that.

Not the same words he had said to her when they had met so long ago.

"Your right this time." She admits sheepishly. "Although I don't recall asking Einstein."

He bites his lip. He understands her reference to the first time they met. He didn't realize that he began the exchange.

"May I uh- come in?" She asks again, rubbing her arms for warmth.

"Oh, yeah, of course." He says, though his body hesitates from moving away from the door.

"I just put Ralph to bed now, Toby crashed on the couch, Cabe, Happy and Sly left about an hour ago." Walter explains.

She nods and slowly enters the garage. She had missed this place while she was gone. The place looks the exactly the same, her old work desk was still in its place and as she remembers, it is still a wreck.

She continues to look around, feeling nostalgic as Walter watches her uncomfortably.

He had convinced himself that he hated her. Over and over again, he swore he didn't need her. But, she's standing so close, and she looks so small...

"Are you a waitress again?" Walter finds himself asking, "Ralph told me that you've been working hard."

"Um, yeah. " She turns to face him, somewhat embarrassed, " I work the night shift but I uh- also have a desk job. You know, because I mentioned Scorpion on my resume. Thanks for the recommendation, by the way."

Walter nods in acknowledgement but says nothing. The team had gained a ton of popularity since they saved Owen on Zuma Beach last Christmas.

It's awkwardly silent for a moment.

"I uh, had to drop out of college too." She continues, "It's harder to do both in Maine. I work a lot of hours."

Walter raises a confused eyebrow.

"Doesn't Drew help out?" He questions, slowly beginning to follow her as she walks towards the kitchen.

"Yeah!" She says quickly, he voice raising and octave due to the fact that she was lying. "Portland has been great."

"Good." Walter smiles insincerely. It doesn't reach his eyes.

She stands by the sink and he sits at the table. They avoid eye contact with the other.

A few minutes pass and they remain unmoving, eventually catching the others eyes and holding them there.

More silence.

"Okay!" Walter finically says, standing up and straitening his tie.

"Oh, yeah." The ex- liaison clears her throat. " If it's alright with you, I'd really like to see my son."

"He's in my room." Walter stands up and begins leading her up the staircase. "Better not to wake him up though, he had a long day."

"What did you guys do?" Paige asks, slowly following behind him. Walter stops on the staircase and turns to face her.

"He'll tell you on the plane ride home tomorrow." He responds resentfully.

"No he won't." Paige sighs and Walter knows he wasn't meant to hear it.

"Yeah, well. That's your fault isn't it?" He finds himself responding as he opens the door to the loft. He moves to let her inside but she remains outside the door, her jaw dropped in shock as she looks at the genius.

"Excuse me?" She eventually asks. Her voice cracks.

He knows he said something wrong, but he clears his throat and continues.

"You heard me." Walter says, still holding the door open for her. " Now are you going in or not?"

She blinks and shakes her head.

That hurt.

It was a low blow.

But well deserved.

She enters the room and silently makes her way towards her son.

"You match." She mumbles, her hand lightly running over her son's black eye.

"We iced it for a while, it doesn't hurt him anymore." Walter whispers, still by the door, "He will be fine."

Paige nodded and noticed that her son had fallen asleep in his clothing and Walter evidently didn't have the chance to change him. She runs her fingers through her son's hair and turns towards ex-employer, still standing with a frown by the door.

"Pajamas?" She whispers.

Walter nods and walks over to the closet on the right of the bed, passing Paige a large red tee shirt of his. She nods in thanks and goes about changing her son.

Walter makes his way down stairs and sits by the kitchen counter.

He needed to process the last seven minutes of his life.

 _Paige is back_

Ok.

 _Paige needs a place to stay for the night_

There is only one couch downstairs and Toby is occupying it. There are two couches upstairs, directly across from each other.

No. Absolutely not-

"Walter?" Paige questions coming back downstairs.

"The only places in the garage that are available for us are upstairs, Toby is down here and Ralph is in my bed." He states the fact before she hits the forth step.

"Could we move one of the couches?" She questions shifting uncomfortably. She didn't want to share a room with Walter.

" You aren't strong enough to lift it. You'll wake up Ralph." Walter rolls his eyes. "It's the only solution."

Paige sighs and nods her head, rubbing her still cold arms.

"Thank you."

Should he tell her _'Your welcome'_ \- because that's not entirely true.

 _'No problem?'_ \- it was a problem.

"Okay." He finally decides and heads up the stairs, passes her, and towards the dark linen closet. He finally hands her a blanket at the sound of her chattering teeth.

She was so pale; she practically glowed in the dark.

"You look awful by the way." He finds himself pointing out.

"Walter!" She hisses at him.

He freezes.

 _Shoot._

"I didn't mean that the way it sounded." He slowly turns.

She glares at him for a minute and he looks directly at her. She lets out an exaggerated breath.

"I always knew you had issues Walter, but this is," She breaths deeply, " This is way beneath you. You are selfish and you are being a _jerk_." She hisses, tears beginnings I cloud her vision. Walter only notices that once she begins marching off towards one of the couches. She was fully clothed as she lays down and quickly covers herself with a blanket.

He watches her in shock.

His chest hurt.

He could feel his sympathetic nervous system increase his heart rate and breathing.

He needs to process this- _her_ \- whatever.

He glances at her figure one more time before he takes off running-

 _Like a chayote caught in the headlights._

 ** __Scorpion__**

 ** _Please Review_**


	7. Chapter 7

**__Went a bit italics crazy here__**

 ** __Please review__**

 ** __Scorpion__**

He didn't actually have a destination in mind. So he found himself at Zumba beach. Of course, he didn't stay long; he knew he needed to go back to the garage.

He wanted to be there when Ralph woke up because he wasn't sure the next time he would see the small genius. So when he comes back into the garage, he doesn't even glance in the direction of the ex-liaison. He assumes she was asleep anyway.

He quietly moves a seat next to her son and watches him sleep. His mouth was open slightly as he lies on his side. Walter notices Ralph had kicked the blanket off of him and was now getting cold. Slowly he covers the small boy again and begins running his fingered through his hair the way he remembers his mother doing.

Walter sighs when he's able to make out Ralph's black eye and kisses his forehead before going to take a quick shower.

It isn't until after he's changed and the room is silent that he hears the sniffling.

He quickly makes his way to Ralph but he was fine, still fast asleep.

Slowly, he turns towards the two couches, where the liaison occupied one and hesitantly heads in her direction. He could see her body shaking under her blankets. He stalls before quietly cleaning this throat.

"Paige?" Her body freezes for a moment and he wonders if she's pretending sleep.

Slowly he walks towards the couch.

"Are you uh...okay?"

Slowly, she sits up, her face blocked by her hair as she looks at the floor below her. Her hands clutch the couch she was sitting on.

He hesitantly walks towards her, sitting on the couch across from her with the table dividing them. He sighs.

"Look, Paige." He leans forward, "What I said before-"

"I get that your mad at me Walter." She cuts him off, her voice quietly exuding strength she doesn't possess.

"I'm not-"

"And you know what? These last two months have been heck for me." Walter straitens up. She refuses to look at her. "So stop making me feel bad because I know I made the right decision to protect my son and-"

"Protect him from _what_ exactly?" Walter hisses, beginning to loose his patience.

She glares at him.

"You know from what." She hisses.

Walter stands and stuffs his hands in his pockets.

"Actually I don't." The man moves closer to her, sitting on the table directly in from of her, though his body leaned backwards. It was his subconscious way of distancing himself from the woman. "I've replayed the scenario in my head and logically, it makes no sense."

"Well let me remind you that the last case I was here for, my son nearly died."

"But he didn't." Walter insists. " And now you took that boy _3,000_ miles away from his home and you're both miserable." He stands and begins walking towards the kitchen and Paige stares after him, her jaw dropped in shock.

"F-for your information," She stutters, shakily standing up and making her way towards him. Even in the dim lights he could see her eyes were red. She was crying before he came. "We aren't miserable, Ralph loves Portland-"

"Yeah," Walter chuckles cruelly as he takes out two mugs from the cabinet. "That's why he snuck over here."

She ignores him.

"Ralph loves having Drew around all the time. In fact, Drew is missing an away game to take Ralph on a boat ride for his _birthday_ on Friday."

Walter freezes his process of making hot chocolate.

"Ralph's birthday is _Friday_?" He asks glaring down at the two hot chocolate packets in his hands. The room was silent, except for Ralph's almost inaudible breathing from the bedroom.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't know that, would you?" She crosses her arms.

Slowly Walter looks up at her.

"What happened to you?" Walter asks. "Drew ruined you."

"Excuse me?" She walks up the other side of the kitchen peninsula.

"You were an incredible mother." Walter just shakes his head in confusion. "Of course I know Ralph's birthday and it was _last week_. The twenty first, he was born at 10:23 am on a Wednesday and weighed seven pounds, seven ounces." Walter looks down and continues making the hot chocolate, as the liaison remains speechless. " It was last week, one of those times when you worked the night shift and he didn't see you."

Paige's hand slowly covers her mouth as she notices the date on his watch.

"That's why he ran away?" Paige's voice cracks.

"No. That was the final straw." Walter hands her a mug. "He hates it there. He hates Drew and as for you-"

He was going to tell her that Ralph didn't even want to looks at her, but she looks up at him and he notices her eyes already beginning to tear again. Taking another path would be the wise decision.

"As for me what?" Her voice quivers as she presses him.

"He hates it, Paige. Now that boy is sleeping in my bedroom with a black eye that matches mine."

"That wasn't what you were going to say."

Walter hesitates and holds her gaze. It was so weird having her here, staying here.

Being able to physically look at her rather than blocking out his memory of her. Walter sighs.

"He knows the decision you made was illogical."

She puts her mug down on the table.

"Please stop saying that." She finally says, " It wasn't illogical. I made a decision to protect my son-"

"From what Paige? And at what cost?"

"Scorpions jobs are dangerous and-"

"He has an exceptionally high IQ. He would understand if you tell him not to risk his life. So logically speaking that _isn't_ why you left."

He crosses his arms as he also puts down him mug.

"Drew is a child and judging by the way you look, he doesn't help you or make you happy. You don't love the moron so he isn't why you left."

"It's safer in Portland than it is here." Paige states.

"Run the numbers on that." Walter scoffs, once again taking his mug as he heads towards the couch. He doesn't sit and Paige follows after him, also standing.

"The way crime rates work is that it is given a number- a percent- up to one hundred. Portland's is at 12%, meaning it's safer than 12 % of places in the United

States."

"Of course, you would start stating facts." She mumbles but he ignores her, his voice raising slightly but not enough the wake up the sleeping little boy genius.

"Meanwhile, California is 28% safer than other places in the United States. So logically, _that isn't_ why you left."

Paige slowly walks towards her couch and sits, taking her first sip of hot chocolate as she looks up, attempting to stop tearing. She was trying to look strong.

"You're just filled with facts." Is all she says and Walter sits on the coffee table across from her, he remains silent. This wasn't new information.

"Look, Walter. That last case, with the saran gas. I-I'm still having nightmares about it."

"Ralf is fine."

"Don't you think I know that know that?" She snaps at him, before continuing with a sigh. "I was scared. I realized that I not only almost lost Ralph that day, I almost lost you too." She breathes deeply, attempting to control her emotions the way Walter has always managed to control his.

"Every case we were going on, your life was seconds from death. Bombs, poison, gas and it got me realizing how important you are to me, along with Ralph. I couldn't bear to loose you. I got scared so I left." Walter straitens up, his eyes furrowed in confusion.

"You were afraid of loosing me, so you left me?" He questions, "Is that meant to make sense?"

"I don't expect you to understand." She covers her face, "It's emotional."

He watches her for a minute, trying to solve the equation she put in his head.

"Goodnight Walter." She sighs and covers herself with her blanket before she lies down.

"No!" He finds himself jumping and she sits up in surprise.

"What?"

"I don't- I want, I _need_ to understand." He begs her. " The decision was illogical"

"Yes, it was emotional." She agrees.

"So why are you taking _my_ boy 3,000 miles away!" He hisses.

She quickly jumps up.

"He isn't _yours_ Walter. He's _mine_ , and what I decide for my son is what's best for him."

"This has nothing to do with him! This has to do with me and you- apparently- and I can't understand why!" His voice is raising and he has to remind himself to lower it. "And Ralph is _my_ boy for as long as _he_ wants to be."

"I don't remembered _you at the hospital_ when he was born-"

"And yet I remember his birthday better that you." He hisses.

She slams her feet down and the floor and stands up, the lack of space between them makes her breath hitch but she continues.

"I made a mistake," She hisses, "it won't happen again."

"Come home Paige," He finds himself saying, "Paige, just come _home_."

"I can't control what happens to you, Walter. I have to let you be the superhero, but I don't have to subject Ralph to that."

"Come home Paige." He repeats, his eyes getting wide and he is also beginning to tear. Tears once again begin to stream down her face.

"Why?" She asks through her tears. "So I could hear everyday how you don't believe in love, while I'm slowly falling in love with you."

"What?"

"You heard me Walter. I can't do that anymore, I can't worry about your life constantly and you know what Ralph wants to be when he grows up?"

He shakes his head.

"You, Walter. Ralph wants to be you." She's crying now. " I can't loose you both. So I traded, this way I get to keep one. I get to keep _my_ Ralph."

"You know I care about you!" Walter defends, " I told you that! The night Ralph won the science fair. Please, Paige just look at yourself! Your weak, exhausted and you're not eating-"

"And you look better?" She counters, "Your cloths don't even fit!"

"Stay Paige." He tries again, one tear beginning to fall.

"I have no reason too-"

"You have every reason too!" He finally yells and Paige quickly takes a step towards him, quickly covering his mouth with her hand. He pulls it off his face, not noticing how he continues holding it. "Ralph is miserable, you're miserable-"

"No I am not!" She defends, "I'm happy."

"Please Paige," He scoffs before his face seems to darken. "I hate seeing you like this."

"Well than its good you won't have too." She tells him, " My flight is tomorrow. 3 P.M sharp."

She tries to pull away from him but he pulls her back and to both of their surprises, he's hugging her.

This causes her to breakdown completely.

Her body wrecks with sobs. She clutches him tightly, his arms wrapped loosely around her waist. A frown is plastered on his face.

"I don't want to loose you both." She eventually says as she begins calming down, ignoring the tear stains on his shirt.

She looks up at him and him, down at her.

"I _can't_."

No one knew who initiated it, but their lips were on each other's.

He missed her; he knew he did. Kissing her made his stomach knot up, like being on a roller coaster. Kissing her made his heart pound and his toes curls.

Meanwhile she could feel butterflies going loose in her stomach as her figures combed through his hair, bringing her impossibly closer as Walters hands tighten around her waist.

This was different, unlike their past relationships. This kiss was... Electric.

Walter is the first to pull away and leans his forehead against hers.

"This is your home Paige," He begs her breathlessly. "Stay here."

She closes her eyes as more tears make their way down her check.

"I can't. I can't loose you both." She whispers her eyes still closed.

He frowns and wipes away her tears.

"If you hadn't noticed, by leaving scorpion, you already have." He quickly walks away, checking on Ralph before quickly making his way towards the exit of the loft.

"By leaving Scorpion, You lost us both." His voice cracks as he closes the door and exits the garage. He is extra cautious when he closes to the door. The last think he needs right now would be for the nosey shrink to wake up on the couch.

And for the fist time in his life, Walters's body wrecks with silent tears as he leans outside the front door of the garage.

Illogically, he punches the hard brick wall before recoiling his shocked hand.

Slowly, he moves his throbbing hand towards his still tingling lips. He notices- his figures are salty with a mix of his dark blood and Paige's bitter tears.

 ** __Scorpion__**

 ** _Review_**

 ** __Please Review__**


	8. Chapter 8

It wasn't until 6AM that Walter comes stumbling back into the garage. He wasn't crying anymore. In fact, 197's face showed little emotion at all.

Toby lay awake on the couch, having been awoken by the sound of the door locking. The shrink surveys the stoic man and notices his arm in a sling.

"What happened to you? Get into a fight with a conspiracy theorist?" The shrink yawns and stretches.

"I'm fine, Toby." Is all 197 says, throwing off the sling to reveal a metal hand brace.

"You should keep that elevated." Toby comments, his eyebrow rising in surprise. "When is Paige arriving?"

"She's upstairs." Walter avoids eye contact, and begins making his way towards the staircase. "Did Ralph wake up yet?"

"No. Not that I know of." Toby jumps up and runs in front of 197, blocking his path as he analyzes. "Walter did you even sleep last night?"

"No. I drove myself to the hospital and was there all night, so if you don't mind," Walter pushes the shrink to the side. " I'd like to see if I could rest for a bit before Ralph wakes up."

He takes two steps at a time as he jogs upstairs. Paige is still asleep, along with Ralph. Walter had originally planned on attempting sleep for a bit but he ends up watching Ralph for a few moments, before turning to his miserable mother.

He could still feel her lips on his, as if they were still there. He notes the bags under her eyes.

She was miserable.

Why was she going back?

Why was she taking his boy with her? After all, it takes more than parenting to be a father. Paige seems to believe that being there- in the delivery room, watching her give birth to Ralph- was some kind of fathers' initiation ceremony.

Walter then glances at his laptop beside his bed; Ralph's arm was stretched in its direction though he was still fast asleep.

Walter takes it and moves it to the kitchen. He plugs in his headphones and unlocks it. He finds it difficult to type quickly with only one hand and begins feeling pathetic for having punched a brick wall.

It's only takes him two minutes to hack into the Whitehall hospitals server. In fact, it takes longer for him to find the eleven-year-old security footage than to code his way through the firewalls. But he find it soon enough.

He watches Paige - only around nineteen or twenty years old- her hair was longer but she didn't gain a ton of weight, just a protruding stomach. She was being wheeled into the hospital room. Walter vaguely notices the nurses neglected to close the door. Paige was obviously scared and though the video had no sound, Walter attempts to figure out what the soon to be mother was saying.

As they put her on the bed, the woman clutches the beds sides, must have been a contraction. Her eyes are squeezed shut, she's terrified and in pain. He wants to reach out and comfort her but it's a video, and no one is there.

"Where is Drew?" He mutters, watching her lips move. He's almost positive that she asked the same.

It's then he remembers his voice dubbing software.

He downloads the security footage and uploads it to his voice recognition technology. If Paige's voice hadn't changed much in the last couple years- which he suspects hadn't- he would be able to hear what she says.

It takes two minutes for the program to upload and he rewinds the footage.

"Where's Drew?" Her voice was loud in his ear bud.

He can't see or hear what the nurse responds.

"He's this babies father, Try calling again!" Another contraction comes and she screams in his hear bud.

He wants to reach out to her. He can't.

He calculates the time between the two contractions. Two minutes. He's never been around a birth before but he knew that two minutes was pretty close for contractions.

He stiffens up in anticipation.

Another nurse runs in and tells Paige something.

"I don't care if his game is almost over? Is that a joke? Tell him to get here now." It's a half our later Walter notices how invested he is in the video, his hand occasionally reaching towards the screen as if to comfort her.

Drew doesn't show, but he isn't surprised in the slightest. He was confused of how Paige considered him Ralph's father. If it were him, he would be there. He would be by Paige's side, logically explaining how the woman's body worked.

When he assumes the nurses tell her to push and she starts yelling. Walter sits, stiff as a rock. But when the nurses hand her that baby, her baby, his Ralph, he finds tears rolling down his face with a smile as wide as China.

He wipes them away, embarrassed by his surprising amount of emotional quotient. He continues to re-watch those two seconds of Ralph's birth, and on the forth time, he notices a man by the open door. He was picking something up that had fallen, a girl waiting beside him.

Megan?

He pauses it.

The girl was Megan.

The plays the video again and the man stands up- at this point, Ralph was born and they were cutting his umbilical chord.

It was him.

The video isn't clear enough to show what 197 had been picking up, but Walter has a 197 IQ and a photographic memory.

He remembers now.

When Megan could still walk, she used to love walking through the maternity ward. She knew she probably wouldn't have kids but she loved them. She used to drag him along every time he came to visit.

Usually, he came in on Fridays but something possessed him to go on Wednesday that week, so many years ago. Megan had dropped the charm from her favorite necklace and he had seen it roll into one of the hospital rooms.

Paige's room?

He rewinds the video two minutes and watched carefully. His heart rate began speeding up, he was shocked at what he found.

He was there, in the room, when Ralph was born.

'Is there such thing as fate?' He questions himself.

Maybe Paige was right.

'Destiny?' He wasn't meant to be there that day, at that time, or in that room.

Yet, there he was. At the perfect moment.

'Coincidence.' He decides, 'It must be.'

As he watches the nurses pass Ralph to his mother, and twenty one year old version of him and his sister walk away from the doorframe, just in time for the new mother to tiredly kiss the baby's forehead.

"Ralph." She breathes with a content smile on her lips. Walter smiles again.

In Paige's book, then, maybe he can have some claim to Ralph.

"Walter?" 197 hears a little boy's voice mumble and the man in question pauses the video. He looks passed the sleeping mother towards his bed.

Ralph is sitting up, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He should sleep more. Walter minimizes his video and silently makes his way towards Ralph.

"What's up buddy?"

"I don't want to go to Maine." Ralph quietly begins begging and Walter sighs.

"I really fought for you bud." He lies down on the bed beside his boy and shows Ralph his injured harm. "This won't be the last time I see you Ralph."

"How did that happen?" Ralph reaches towards the metal brace surrounding his mentor's hand.

" I did something illogical." Walter chuckles in embarrassment, "I punched a wall."

To Walter's surprise, the boy lowers his hand and lays his head on 197 like a pillow before he cuddles into his mentor's side. Walter kisses Ralph and carefully wraps his good arm around the boy. His boy. His Ralph.

Both begin feeling the pull of sleep, almost immediately closing their eyes.

"Walter?" Ralph yawns.

"Yeah buddy?" Walter also yawns, his mom used to say that if you catch another person's yawn, it means you're an empathetic person. Ridiculous.

"When I get older, can I be apart of Scorpion again?" He mumbles sleepily.

"You never stopped being apart of Scorpion, Ralph." He admits back. "Your always welcome here."

_Scorpion_

_Please review_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Sorry for the Lack of update, but Im back! Updates and new story on the way! PLEASE REVIEW! I own nothing.**_

"I'm not going with her." Ralph almost cries to Walter. His mother watches him from the opposite side of the room. Her eyes are wide with surprise of his son's reaction

"Ralph." Paige croaks as she takes a step towards her only child. He is quick to latch himself onto the genius next to beside him.

Walter watches the mother's expression. Carefully analyzing her body language to the best of his abilities. He wasn't Toby but she was clearly upset.

Slowly, Walter lowers himself to be the same height as the little boy grasping his hand.

"You have to go with her Ralph." He whispers, messing with the child's hair. " Please, go grab your stuff before you miss your flight."

"When will I see you again? And the team!" He was pouting, and Walter was reminded of the time they said goodbye the first time. It was two months ago but it felt like two years ago.

Walter glances at Paige, who watches the scene with frozen, wide, unseeing eyes.

"Soon." Walter faces the boy.

"Soon is subjective. She won't let me come back, she-"

"So than we will come to you." Walter takes the little boy's other hand. He always did have a sweet spot for Ralph. "I promise."

Paige watches the boys have their silent exchange, once in a while noticing how Walter would look in her direction while Ralph refused to even glance at her.

She Sighs. Paige had woken up to Ralph dropping a glass bowl on the floor when he noticed his mother sleeping on the couch. He started yelling, which woke up a sleeping Walter.

Paige was shocked to find her sons mentor with his hand in a brace but she hadn't asked what was the cause of the injury. She wasn't sure she still reserved the right to.

Meanwhile, Walter was having trouble concentrating. Since he woke up, he felt a bit shaky. He knew he should eat but his appetite was gone. He knew he was probably getting sick but he instead attributed the way he felt to Ralph leaving or the lack for sleep he had that night.

That had to be it, right?

Paige then watched her son pout before he nods in agreement. Ralph doesn't glance in her direction as he stomps up the stairs to the loft.

Walter straitens up and rubs his eyes tiredly before uncomfortably adjusting his tie. He slowly makes his way towards her.

She sighs.

"I wish he could understand why we left." Paige frowns.

"Oh, he won't." Walter tells her, "It was an emotional decision."

She sighs but doesn't respond.

They stand by the bottom of the staircase waiting for Ralph to come down. Walter shifts uncomfortably on his feet for a moment before remembering the envelope in his back pocket.

"Oh," He quickly takes it out, " This is for you."

She looks back at him in confusion before slowly accepting the envelope.

"What is this?" She opens it slowly and glances inside. Her jaw drops.

"Five thousand, in cash, it's to help you and Ralph." Walter states the fact as if he had handed her a piece of chocolate, rather than a wad of cash. Walter leans heavily on the stairs railing, feeling a bit dizzy.

"I- I can't take this from you Walter." She closes the envelope and attempts to hand it back.

He frowns as he takes it.

"Yes you can, and you will." He slides it into her purse. She remains silent, her eyes staring at him as she puts pieces together in her head.

"It was you, wasn't it?" She says gently, her jaw drops.

"What?" He raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"I can't believe I didn't figure it out before," She opens her purse and takes the envelope out. "Walter, you've helped us enough and-"

"What are you taking about?" He stiffens uncomfortably.

"You've been sending us money the whole time I was in Portland!" She attempts to hand the cash back to him, "A little bit at a time, so I wouldn't notice. You've been helping pay my bills little by little. Haven't you?"

Walter remains silent, his eyes locking with hers as she forces the money in his direction.

"No." He lies, " Now take the money and-"

He freezes when she hugs him tightly. He doesn't reciprocate but he doesn't pull away either.

"Thank you." She whispers in his ear. "But it's not your responsibility."

She slowly pulls away and he just stares at her.

A few uncomfortable seconds pass and he blinks and moves away from the woman when Ralph comes skulking down the stairs.

He looks up at Walter as he drags his school bag beside his mentor.

Walter clears his throat.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes." The boy frowns.

"Let me grab my bag." Paige sighs and makes her way to her old desk. She didn't know why but as everyone got dressed this morning she had straitened up her old workspace.

She adjusted the desktop and straitened out old paperwork that had never been done.

It made her miss her job at scorpion. She goes to get her bag off her old desk.

"Ralph, give this to your mother when you get back to Portland." Walter watches her walk away and hands the envelope to her son. Ralph doesn't ask questions as he folds it up and puts in in his backpack.

"Ready?" Paige returns, feigning excitement for her son's sake.

"No."

"Fantastic." She responds hugging her son long enough for him to pull away before she began directing him towards the exit.

"Did you eat anything?"

"Yes."

Paige sighs.

"Are you only going to give me one word answers?"

"Probably." The youngest genius sighs before pushing the door open. Walter begins to follow after with the keys to Cabe's SUV.

"I'll drive." She takes the keys.

"No."

"You look like heck and you have a bad hand, it's safer if I drive."

"That's not-"

"How much did you sleep last night?"

"Paige-"

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." He responds instinctively moving back as she raises her hand to feel his forehead. She rolls her eyes.

"Your sick, you're practically burning up." She sighs, "We'll call a cab, you have to stay in bed and-"

"Paige!" Walter takes her hand off of his face and holds it, "I'm fine." She watches him skeptically, his eyes narrow and he watches her slowly shift off of her 'mommy mode' as Toby used to call it. Eventually she sighs and neither notices him still holding her hand.

"Have you eaten today?"

"Fine, you drive." Walter rolls his eyes and passes her the keys.

Meanwhile, she hands him an apple she had been holding behind her back with her free hand.

"Eat it." She demands and they stare at each other for a second before she turns from him. Making her way to the car.

Only when the she disappears does his hand begin to feel empty.

He rolls his eyes and makes his way to the kitchen for a moment. He leaves the garage and locks the door behind him after making her a sandwich- turkey, her favorite- if his memory was correct, which it was.

"Here." He puts the sandwich on her lap as he slides into the SUV. "Eat it."

To his surprise, she chuckles.

"Thank you." She mumbles and takes a bite while Walter's apple remains uneaten and forgotten in the garage kitchen.

It's not long before they pull out towards the road.

"Walter?" Ralph silently questions as they approached LAX.

"Yeah buddy?" The man tiredly turns his head to face him; he had been slumped down in his seat for the last fifteen minutes.

"Are you coming in with us? To the terminal."

"Yes." The genius shrugs and watches the boy smile.

"No Ralphy, he cant." Paige contradicts with a sigh, taking the last bite of the sandwich.

"Why?" Both genius question. 197 was about to begin an argument about Ralph being considered his son as well.

"They will stop you at security."

"I'll buy a cheap ticket." Walter shrugs.

"Walter." She shakes her head in disbelief, stopping at a red light. "Where is this magic money from?"

"I pay one less person now." He mumbles and that ends the conversation.

The rest of the ride remains silent.

He could feel her eyes on him as they go through security. He could feel her gaze when her son grabbed his hand instead of hers. He knew she was watching him as he bought an overpriced sweater in the airport because he was starting to shiver.

She watched as her sons leaned into the side of his feverish mentor as they waited at the terminal.

But 197 couldn't look at her.

Walter couldn't understand her.

Why did she need to go?

It was his fault.

197 wasn't better emotionally and she couldn't handle it. Now he was miserable, Paige was miserable and most importantly, Ralph was miserable.

When that thought hits him, he can't look at his 'son' either. Guilt weighing him down and reminded him that he might not be good enough. Not for Paige and by the transitive property, Ralph.

So Walter looks at the television instead, only half paying attention to the murder of the day, the robbery of the week, or the fact that it will remain sunny in California for the next two months.

As he mindlessly watches the screen, someone sits beside him, listening to music and playing air guitar like a nine year old. But he wasn't nine years old; he was older than Ralph and maybe a year or two older than himself. The genius angles himself closer to his 'son' and farther from the stranger who was giving him a headache.

Paige notices this but remains silent as she continues to sit across from her old boss, taking out her phone for company that doesn't hate her.

"Hi." The stranger turns to Walter after his music slows. The genius frowns.

"Hello?" Walter responds as he and Ralph turn to face him.

"The names Ray, Ray Speewag."

Both geniuses frown in unison as the dirty looking man extend his hand to be shaken.

"Walter," 197 shakes Ray's hand, "and this is Ralph."

Though Ray extends his hand to him, Ralph doesn't reciprocate and for reasons unknown to Walter, Ray isn't caught off guard.

"Wally and Ronald-"

"Ralph-" Walter remarks.

"That's what I said." The man heavily pats Walters back, " What brings you to the east coast, brochacho?"

Walter stiffens up at the touch and glances at Paige who bites her lip and nods her head towards Ralph. Ralph watches Walter, his body ridged as if Ray had wrapped his arm around him instead of his mentor. So, Walter takes a deep breath and forces himself to look relaxed and though Ralph still remains stiff, it was less so than before.

His son learns from him.

"I'm just dropping off." Water frowns but replies none the less. "

"Who? The pretty lady who keeps looking over?" The man attempts to look subtle as he nods in the direction of the former liaison. "She your wife?"

"No." Walter responds quickly, and Ralph straitened up beside him. " She just uh... Hm."

He's speechless. We're they friends? They certainly weren't colleagues, or lovers, but were they even friends?

"She's uh, Paige."

"Ohh, I see," Ray winks at the mentor and stands up. "I got this Wally. "

The geniuses eyes widened.

"Ray?" Both Walter and Ralph straighten up. "Ray, whatever you're about to do – Stop. "

"Don't worry my brotha – I got this." Ray reassures ignoring 197 as he makes his way towards Paige. Walters about to stand up and stop him but glances over at the little boy next to him –. Ralph had an amused smile on his face.

Walter didn't have the heart to take that away from him and really, what was the worst Ray can do?

The dirty man takes a seat next to the liaison.

"How you doing?" Ray winks at her and nods in her direction. Walters is surprised to find her chuckling.

"Hello." She smiles and extends her hand, " Paige."

"Ray." His firm grip surprises her and she's can't help but find him somewhat amusing.

"How can I help you "

"You see that guy over there?" He doesn't let go of her hand and instead Nods in Walters direction. Walter's face turns red and he covers it face with his hands in embarrassment. Ralph smile widens.

"Yes?"

"He likes you a lot and-"

"Okay!" Walter stands and the small boy laughs out loud. "That's enough of that for now."

And Ray stands up and mumbles, " You try to help a brotha out-"

"First of all, we aren't brothers." Walter mumbles quietly as he pulls Ray aside. Something he had learned to do from the liaison.

"Second, I never said that."

"But yeah you did." Ray contradicts and leans in past the boundaries of comfort zones. " With you eyes."

He says seductively before turning from the adult genius to the child prodigy. Walter shakes his head in disbelief.

"Rudolph!" He slides beside the laughing child.

"It's Ralph-"

"Yeah, anyway..." The grown man begins talking to the small boy and Paige is amazed as she watches the two interact.

A year ago, Ralph wouldn't have said a word. He only used to speak to her. To watch him engage in a conversation with someone... Normal- weird, but average, none the less- it took her breath away.

She looses her train of thought when Walter takes the seat next to her.

"Uh, sorry about him."

Paige smiles, " He's somewhat amusing."

"Weird." Walter chuckles skeptically. " yet somehow... Charmingly."

Paige quietly snorts. It's not exactly the word she would have chosen to describe Ray but as she watches her son laugh with the stranger, she begins to understand what 197 means.

"A Character." She agees.

"Looks like you and Ralph made a new friend."

Walter chuckles and lies back in his seat slightly, closing his eyes.

"How are you feeling?"

197 chuckles, "Terrible."

"Maybe you should go home and rest?"

"It's okay, I would probably just work on the rocket anyway." He mumbles, barely coherent.

"With your broken hand?" He's surprised when he feels her take his hand in her small palms and is careful not to pull away. It felt... Nice.

"I guess not." He mumbles and reframes from shivering as he opens his eyes to look at her.

"What um-" She scratches the side of her head. A habit she had picked up from the man intently watching her. "What happened to your hand?"

Walter just smiles at her and chuckles as if it was some kind of private joke.

"I um-" He straitens up, " After I left the garage last night, I punched the wall."

"Walter!" Paige exclaims in surprise.

197 flinches at the loud noise and Paige is quick to apologize. They both chuckle humorlessly and remain silent.

"I don't want you to go again Paige." Walter finds himself admitting and Paige turns to face him in surprise. He forces himself to look at her, "I, uh, I like it when your around."

Paige smiles slightly and continues to lightly caress his broken hand.

"And I love it here Walter but-"

"Attention passengers," The loudspeaker cuts off their conversation, " All flights have been cancelled until further notice."

"What?" Paige, Walter and what seemed like every other person in the terminal exclaiming surprise.

"Something is wrong." Walter mumbles. It's at that moment his phone rings.

"Cabe?" Walter stands to answer as Paige makes her way towards Ray and Ralph.

"Kid, I'm back with homeland, meet back at the garage, we got a case."

The phone hangs up then Walter and looks at the ex liaison and her son.

"We got a-" Walter stops and sighs, running his broken hand through his hair. " Well, I guess, _**I**_ have a case."

 _ **PLEASE REVIEW!**_


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